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Mark Mason (Earth-616)
| Relatives = Louise Grant-Mason (wife); Wanda Mason (daughter); Earl Paynter Mason (son); Henry Mason (Uncle) | Universe = Earth-616 | BaseOfOperations = Washington D.C. | Gender = Male | Height = | Weight = | Eyes = | Hair = Black | UnusualFeatures = | Citizenship = American | MaritalStatus = Married | Occupation = Private Detective | Education = | Origin = Human | PlaceOfBirth = | Creators = Stan Lee; Syd Shores | First = All-Select Comics Vol 1 11 | Death = Sensational She-Hulk Vol 1 4 | HistoryText = 1946 Mark Mason was a investigator for the during the later days of World War II, and hired on secretary Louise Grant, who secretly loved him. In order to spend more time with Mark, she developed the costumed identity of the Blonde Phantom to discretely assist him in his cases. Ironically, Mark developed a love interest in the Blonde Phantom and continued to seemingly ignore Louise, oblivious to the fact that they were both the same woman. In his earliest recorded case, Mark became aware that diplomat Signor Korte was selling government secrets to spy organizations and was attempting to obtain the formula to the atomic bomb. When his spy posed as a member of an atomic energy meeting among scientists, Mark and the Blonde Phantom prevented Korte from obtaining the plans, however they failed to gather the evidence necessary to implicate the diplomat in the crime. Mark was later sent to South America to track down a chemical weapon developed by escaped Nazi scientist Heinz Rheint from falling into the hands of enemy spies, and recovered the formula with the help of the Blonde Phantom. . Mark was later selected to act as liaison for Colonel Ryder at a military testing ground for a new radio controlled atomic bomb. Mark and Ryder then were attacked by spies under the employ of Signor Korte, including master of disguise False Face who took Ryder's place in the scuffle. Unaware of this, Mark brought False Face to the base where the spy attempted to steal the plans, and set the only working prototype to launch at New York City instead of the intended target. When Mark caught "Ryder" tampering with the rocket, he was knocked out and stuffed inside. The rocket was launched, however Mark programmed it back to it's intended target, willing to sacrifice his life to save New York. Mark was rescued by the Blonde Phantom, who arrived in a plane and was able to toss Mark a parachute to escape with. After, he was assigned to investigate how government secrets were getting leaked out to spies. With the help of the Blonde Phantom, he discovered that the La Glamour beauty parlour was really a spy operation that hypnotized the wives of government officials. Although they caught the spies, their leader died of poisoning before he could reveal Signor Korte as his employer. 1947 With the dissolution of the OSS, Mark opened up his own private detective agency. His first recorded case was to escort jewels that were originally gifted to George Washington by British loyalists that were en route to England. The jewels were stolen by an ancestor of the loyalists calling himself the Redcoat, who fled to his family's tomb. The Blonde Phantom helped Mark track Redcoat there, who fell to his death being pursued by Mark. Returning home to the United States, Mark was hired to investigate the death threats against Hollywood actor Ken Chambers who was the lead actor in a remake of the film "Mister Stranger". Although Mark failed to stop Chambers from being killed, he captured the killer Edgar Eliot actor in the original "Mister Stranger", before he could eliminate the Blonde Phantom . Later, Mark was hired by Elmo Lang to protect him from the threats made by Baron Frankenstein who believed his ancestors fortune was hidden in the castle that Lang had shipped to America. Mark failed to stop the Baron, but when the Blonde Phantom uncovered the long lost gold and turned it over to the Baron he left the Lang family alone. With money growing tight, Mark was forced to lay-off Louise and take business from an ex-con named Ox find his Gloria Vance, his old girlfriend who went missing while he was in prison. With the help of Blonde Phantom, Mark tracked down Vance. However, it was not a happy reunion as Gloria had married another man for his money and was trying to hide from Ox. She fatally shot Ox, but the brute managed to strangle her to death before dying. Gloria's widow however, generously paid Mark for his services as they helped him realize the true intentions of his wife. With the money Mark was able to rehire Louise and continue his detective work. Later, when Mark learned that talent agent Bret "Chestler" Hogan was swindling would-be actresses out of their money, he went and roughed the sleaze up. However, soon after Hogan was murdered and Mark framed. He was arrested, however the Blonde Phantom managed to track down and capture the real killer: failed theater producer Colonel Bella, clearing Mark's name. Not always the sharpest of detectives, Mark totally missed seeing mobster Porky Potter in a newspaper photo showing the arrival of the "president" to Tibet, and missing the action as Blonde Phantom apprehended Potter and his gang , he was also oblivious to make the connection that while Louise took a vacation, the Blonde Phantom captured criminal magicians Abra and Cadabra. 1948 In 1948 Mark Mason continued to struggle to keep his private detective agency afloat, often taking on various mundane cases. In each case, as in prior jobs the Blonde Phantom either assisted or beat Mark in trying to solve the case. First he investigated thefts at modellings jobs where the prime suspects were the models employed by Carlton Talent Agency. He ended up rescuing the Blonde Phantom from Linda Water and her minion Stillface who were responsible for the thefts in order to ruin the agency. Later Mark was present when the Blonde Phantom exposed the Sultan of Bangook's plot to steal the fortunes of wealthy American women . Next the Mark worked with the Blonde Phantom to investigate the strange thefts around ventriloquist Omar and his Dummy, the Dummy turning out to be a midget in disguise. The Blonde Phantom also assisted Mark Mason in clearing the name of Joe Brand for the murder of Cecily Harding and captured the real killer Van Glint. Shortly thereafter Mark finally asked Louise Grant out on a date by inviting her to join him at a dance. However, when Louise arrived Mark snubbed her in favour of someone else. To teach Mark as lesson, Louise changed into the Blonde Phantom and danced with every man in the club except for Mark and left him begging on his knees when she left. Later, Mark introduced Louise to officer Jack Bertelli, whom she assisted as the Blonde Phantom to steer a young boy named Jimmy away from a life of crime. Soon after, the Blonde Phantom had Mark use his connections in the theatre scene to get young would-be actress Molly Day a part in a play. When Dick Wayne is accused of murdering wealthy Reginald Daley, the Blonde Phantom and Mark Mason help clear his named by exposing Reginald's own wife as the killer, and that she had murdered her husband in order to keep her gambling debts a secret. Blonde Phantom and Mark Mason were next pursued by two play writers looking to use their experience to come up with the perfect mystery. However, when one of the play writers uses the idea to eliminate the lead actress Jackie Scott, to stop her from continuing to blackmail him, the Blonde Phantom exposes the murderer and has him arrested. Mark Mason was then hired by Susan English and helps her prevent her fiancée from painting a counterfeit painting for Doris Montagne. Montagne was apprehended by the Blonde Phantom. Later, Mark is present when the Blonde Phantom prevents a man named Enrico from ruining his former partners opera. After saving the life of scientist Ignatius Fowler, the Blonde Phantom laughs at the man when he suddenly falls in love with her and asks for her hand in marriage. Angered at this rejection Fowler then created a chemical that caused all the men on Earth to enter a coma-like state, including Mark. After the Blonde Phantom used her female charms into tricking Fowler into showing her the antidote which she then unleashed, curing all the men on Earth, Mark led the charge to apprehend Fowler. Mark is present when the Blonde Phantom was investigating a series of murder apparently inspired by stories Ghastly Detective Magazine, the Blonde Phantom saves the publisher of the magazine and his daughter from his lead writer who had developed multiple personality disorder and was acting out the stories he had written. When attending a screening of a Blonde Phantom movie with Louise, Mark was targeted by Tooth-Pick Twilliger and Eight-Ball Olsen, two crooks that Mark and the Blonde Phantom previously captured. The two crooks try to assassinate Mark in the theatre, but the Louise managed to change into the Blonde Phantom and capture the crooks before they could seriously hurt Mark. Later, Mark was present when the Blonde Phantom uncovered that her musical jewellery box was the hiding place for a necklace stolen by Johnny Drago years ago. Blonde Phantom helps Drago, now a reformed con, from being eliminated to and exposes that the Judge who sent Drago to prison was seeking to obtain the necklace himself. While the Blonde Phantom was attempting to apprehend Johnathan Littleton, an escaped mental patient that deduced her true identity, Mark became worried about Louise's well being, the first time he expressed concern for his secretary. . Shortly after this, the Blonde Phantom was framed for crimes thanks to the machinations of her old foe Dr. Demise who used her plastic surgery skills to alter her former cellmate Dora Scott to resemble the Phantom. Mark helped the Blonde Phantom captured her impostor and Dr. Demise, clearing the Blonde Phantom's name. While investigating the theft of a circus payroll, the Blonde Phantom and Mark Mason help clear Jerry -- son of Jeepo the Clown -- of the crime exposing that he was framed by the circus barker. Mark Mason was forced to take up a job as a debt collector and had to collect money owed by washed up vaudeville actor H.C. Meadows. Mark and Louise learned that he was hired to try a vaudeville revival in a run down theatre. The Blonde Phantom then discovered that it was a cover for a bank robbery. Foiling the robbery, the Blonde Phantom then turned over the reward money to Meadows to fund a legitimate production and be able to pay off his creditors. Soon after this, Mark was hired by the Trans-American Clipper Company as security for the test flights for their new prototype, which they suspected was being sabotaged. However when the Blonde Phantom assisted pilot Tom Clements get over his fear of crashing by getting him to test pilot the new plane they discovered that the plane designs were actually defective. Mark put on a recognition party for his uncle, retired Judge Henry Mason, he and his uncles colleagues pulled a prank where they disguised themselves as crooks who Henry sent to jail and then put on a mock trail. Despite interference from the Blonde Phantom, their prank went off without a hitch. After, Mark was hired to protect the Hobnob Toy Company from the Springer took a vendetta against the company for refusing to buy his spring shoe invention. Although the Blonde Phantom captured the Springer, charges against him were dropped when the Hobnob Toy Company found a public demand for the invention and purchased it from the Springer. The Blonde Phantom was more successful in apprehending Morton Marion Maximilian Muse, a hypnotist who had forced a young artist to paint abstract paintings, which he then sold to patrons of his art gallery using the self same hypnotic abilities, but not before Mark fell victim to the scheme and bought one of the paintings. As 1948 came to a close, the Blonde Phantom accepted a challenge from the Spoiler a criminal who made his career embarrassing crime fighters. With the help of Mark Mason the Blonde Phantom managed to defeat the Spoiler. 1949 At the start of 1949, Louise and Mark were invited along with other notable public figures to a scientific exhibition being put on by Professor Kall. This turned out to be a trap, as Kall was a time traveller from the 30th century of Earth-49121 who kidnapped all the attendees to be park of a 20th Century zoo in his native time. Louise changed into the Blonde Phantom and escaped the zoo and learning that none of the people of this era had free will of their own hypnotized their leader, his Excellency and forced him to return her and the other captives to their own time. Louise brought his Excellency back to their own era as well, wiping his mind with amnesia so he could not threaten them again. Mark's memories of the future were erased as a result of his return to the present. Mark next took a job in California to investigate the hauntings at Hawking's Lake, Louise -- as the Blonde Phantom -- soon uncovered that the "ghost" was really property manager Prunella Hawkins who was trying to scare away potential property buyers to continue her futile attempts at finding gold in the region. Back in New York City, Mark Mason became determined to learn the secret identity of the Blonde Phantom. To this end, he instructed Louise to put a classified ad in the paper asking the Blonde Phantom to meet him at a nearby warehouse. Louise went unaware that this was all a ruse that Mark orchestrated to try and learn the Blonde Phantom's secret identity. Catching the Blonde Phantom unaware, Mark unmasked her and when confronted with the fact that his secretary was the heroine that he lusted after, Mark instantly believed that Louise was merely posing as the Blonde Phantom so he'd pay attention to her. Louise managed to protect her secret identity and land a date with Mark that very night. Mark was later amused when viewing an abstract painting of the Blonde Phantom that was created by artist Oswald Grimm. Later Years and Death Eventually, Mark Mason learned that Louise was the Blonde Phantom and the two got married. They retired from heroics and had a daughter named Wanda. Mark and Louise soon became aware of the Fourth Wall and came to understand that they were characters in comic books, and that popular characters never seemed to age. However, Mark died in 1986 before Louise realized that they could continue living by being supporting characters in another super-hero's comic book. | Powers = | Abilities = Later on in life Mark became aware of the Fourth Wall, which allowed him an awareness that he was a comic book character. If utilized properly, Mark could have manipulated the Fourth Wall to take advantage of the fictional dynamics of the universe around him. | Strength = | Weaknesses = | Equipment = | Transportation = | Weapons = Mark usually wielded a pistol, but had access to other firearms. | Notes = | Trivia = | Marvel = | Wikipedia = | Links = }} Category:WWII Characters Category:Comic Awareness